You can ask Alexa to play music from a particular artist or genre, but finding the right music for your work out or for falling asleep to is a little more complex than justpicking a genre. Fortunately, you can ask Alexa for music based on what you’re doing. Here’s how it works and what you can use it for.

One of Alexa’s newer features lets you ask for music based on a certain activity. So, for example, if you want to meditate, you can say “Alexa, play music for meditating” and your Echo will start playing some soft, soothing music. Say “Alexa, play music for working out” and she’ll give you something a bit more high energy and upbeat. To get the most out of this feature, you’ll need to either be a Prime Music or Music Unlimited subscriber.

Yes, those last couple are real. This is just a small sample of the activities for which Alexa can find music. You can also narrow down the type of music you want to play by tossing a genre into these commands. For example, saying “Alexa, play jazz music for working out” gets an upbeat playlist, while “Alexa, play jazz music for sleeping” gives you slower, more relaxing jazz.

Eric RavenscraftEric Ravenscraft has nearly a decade of writing experience in the technology industry. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, PCMag, The Daily Beast, Popular Science, Medium's OneZero, Android Police, Geek and Sundry, and The Inventory. Prior to joining How-To Geek, Eric spent three years working at Lifehacker. Read Full Bio »